{"id":76693,"date":"2025-05-25T00:45:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-25T00:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/76693\/"},"modified":"2025-05-25T00:45:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T00:45:10","slug":"cowboys-boast-seat-belt-in-secondary-to-guard-against-crash-out-due-to-injuries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/76693\/","title":{"rendered":"Cowboys boast \u2018seat belt\u2019 in secondary to guard against crash out due to injuries"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the Dallas Cowboys<\/a> selected Caelen Carson with the 174th pick in the 2024 NFL draft, it was hailed as a certified steal by many draft evaluators. Carson\u2019s 6-foot, 195-pound frame and 76-inch wingspan made him an ideal cornerback prospect in the NFL. Rated as CB13 on Dane Brugler\u2019s draft guide, he garnered a grade somewhere between the third and fourth round in last year\u2019s draft. <\/p>\n

With 36 games of experience under his belt and significant snaps in both man and zone coverages, Carson brought with him top-three corner capabilities in just about any NFL system. Oddly enough, the Wake Forest product came to Dallas with a significant degree of hype rather abnormal for a fifth-round pick. Overall, the Cowboys 2025 draft class addressed needs without offering much in the razzle dazzle department. Being just short of boring as a whole, the situation made this particular CB prospect a popular selection within the fanbase.<\/p>\n

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The hype eventually came to an end when injuries and developmental hiccups made Carson\u2019s rookie season a season to forget. Comfort should be found in the fact hiccups are nothing new for rookie prospects. The leap from college to the pros is significant and not all players successfully clear that hurdle on their first attempt.<\/p>\n

Fans shouldn\u2019t forget Carson has all the tools to make him successful. He has the versatility to play multiple positions at CB<\/a> and to do so in a variety of schemes. His ability to do it all while locking down opposing receivers is what ultimately led to Carson\u2019s nickname in college, \u201cSeat Belt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was my freshman year in college, “Carson said of his nickname<\/a>. “I started as a true freshman, my teammate and roommate told me, \u2018Damn, you\u2019re always locking somebody up. You\u2019re like a seat belt.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Carson doesn\u2019t have the same elite traits as other Cowboys\u2019 CBs such as Trevon Diggs, Kaiir Elam and Shavel Revel bring to the table, but then again, neither does fellow fifth rounder DaRon Bland and all he\u2019s done is set NFL records enroute to an All-Pro season.<\/p>\n

There should be no shortage of opportunities for Carson early this season. Diggs and Revel are still recovering from injury, and Carson brings inside-outside versatility to the mix.<\/a> If Carson can stay healthy over the summer and build on his confidence throughout training camp, there\u2019s no reason he can\u2019t be in the competition at one of the three top CB spots early in 2025.<\/p>\n

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An NFL season is a long journey, so it\u2019s good to know the Cowboys have a seat belt around to get them to the finish line safely.<\/p>\n

You can follow Reid on X\u00a0@ReidDHanson<\/a>\u00a0and be sure to follow\u00a0Cowboys Wire on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0to join in on the conversation with fellow fans!<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys have ‘seat belt’ insurance in CB Caelen Carson<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the Dallas Cowboys selected Caelen Carson with the 174th pick in the 2024 NFL draft, it was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2066],"tags":[12874,230,229,257,2461,3430,7,8580,6,3428],"class_list":{"0":"post-76693","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-cowboys","8":"tag-caelen-carson","9":"tag-cowboys","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-dallas-cowboys","12":"tag-dallascowboys","13":"tag-daron-bland","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-kaiir-elam","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-trevon-diggs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114565711987877121","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}